Inducted: April 1988
SK Date : November 11, 1992
Slater’s broad interests in DXing, contesting, and ragchewing, together with his love of the social scene made his callsign one of the best known of any on the HF bands.
The CQ Contest was a special challenge and Slater had, at various times, held a number of continental records on both CW and SSB. The RSGB Commonwealth Contest, with its unique demands on equipment, antennas and, above all, propagation knowledge, was an annual favourite. He first won the Thomas Trophy, for the leading UK station in 1973 and went on to capture it on a total of 18 occasions and, in 1990, won the Senior Rose Bowl, for the leading station overall, when operating as ZC4ESB.
It is interesting to reflect that all of his operating achievements were accomplished without massive financial investment. Although a T5930 appeared in recent years, the Drake C-line remained the workhorse. Outside, Al took great pride in home made antennas. The home-brew four element quad and the fixed wire beams on 40 metres produced one of the outstanding signals from the UK.